A place for beer drinkers of Asheville and Western North Carolina to exchange news and share their opinions about anything to do with beer.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Around Town

Long time no post. Hope everyone is enjoying the last really cold month. I can't tell you how excited I am about the approach of Spring. Its not that the winter has been that bad, but there is nothing like a cold beer in the warm sun. We'll be there soon.

You should already know by now that Brewgrass tickets are on sale. I have heard that over a thousand tickets have already been sold. If you have any interest in going, now is the time to get tickets, and I would not be surprised to see them sell out before the first dogwood blooms. No bands have been announced, but who goes to Brewgrass for the music?

The second annual Highland Cup is right around the corner. If you are a homebrewer, you better get to fermenting. Entries for this years 2009 Homebrew competition are due by March 21st. If you would rather show off your excellent pallette instead of brewing, they are also looking for judges for this years event. All the info can be found here.

If you need to look to see how far homebrewing can take you, look no further than French Broad's Drew Barton. Drew was recently featured as the first brewer on the Know Your Brewer (North Carolina) website. I suggest hopping on over there and checking out the interview.

Speaking of hops (nice segue, right?), one of my all time favorite hoppy beers is currently on tap at the Thirsty Monk. Hop Slam from Bells Brewery is a hop lovers dream, and only comes out once a year. Of course, the Hop Slam isn't the only reason to visit the Monk. Things are heating up in the kitchen, and the past couple of Thursdays, the Monk has been giving out free samples of some of the possible menu items. If you want to try out a full dinner, the Monk will be having a special three course meal commerating the arrival of New Belgium beers to Asheville on March 9th. The beer dinner will be forty dollars and tickets are on sale at the Thirsty Monk website. Later in the month on March 25th, the Monk will have a special pint night featuring Terrapin Brewing's secret stash. There will be three limited beers on draft and a cask ale. All in all, it should be a good month to visit the Monk.